End-User News

A just released survey from Unisys Corporation, in partnership with the Ponemon Institute, finds alarming gaps in the security of the world’s critical infrastructure. Nearly 70% of companies surveyed that are responsible for the world’s power, water and other critical functions have reported at least one security breach that led to the loss of confidential information or disruption of operations in the past 12 months.

In a survey of 599 security executives at utility, oil and gas, energy and manufacturing companies, 64% of respondents anticipated one or more serious attacks in the coming year. Despite this risk, only 28% ranked security as one of the top five strategic priorities for their organization, while a majority named their top business priority as minimizing downtime.

Only one in six respondents describe their organization’s IT security program or activities as mature. Respondents who reported suffering a data breach within the past year most often attributed these breaches to an internal accident or mistake, and negligent insiders were the most cited threat to company security. Despite these findings, only 6% of respondents said they provide cybersecurity training for all employees.